1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a novelty articles, such as toys and the like, and, more particularly, is concerned with a novelty article having an elongated member being rollable upon itself into a rolled-up compact condition and releasable from itself with a drag-generating controlled progressive unrolling action into an unrolled extended condition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A large portion of human endeavors are devoted to entertaining other humans, especially children. This is evident from the enormous efforts expended by the toy industry to produce novelty devices that provide fun for children.
Many novelty devices have active parts that move up and down, uncoil and recoil, or extend and retract for achieving various design purposes and also to attract and hold the attention of children. Examples of these devices are the ones disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,824,409 to Brodrib, U.S. Pat. No. 2,851,270 to Ball, U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,261 to Smolensky, U.S. Pat. No. 3,410,023 to Anello, U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,548 to London, U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,433 to McKay et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,106 to Lidert, Jr.
These prior art novelty devices appear to achieve the specific purposes for which they were designed. However, the inventor herein has perceived a need for a novelty article which can be employed as an action component in toys, such as plush animal toys, which heretofore, for the most part, have not utilized such action components.
The present invention provides a novelty article designed to satisfy the aforementioned need. The novelty article of the present invention has an elongated member being manually rollable upon itself into a rolled-up compact condition and releasable from itself with a drag-generating controlled progressive unrolling action into an unrolled extended condition. The elongated member can provide an action component for any of a wide variety of toys and other novelty items, such as plush animal toys, which may otherwise be passive in nature.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a novelty article which comprises: (a) a base member; (b) an elongated member made of resiliently flexible material tending to assume an unrolled extended condition when unrestrained by application of any outside force thereto, the elongated member having a pair of opposite ends and opposite portions extending between the opposite ends, the elongated member being mounted at one of the opposite ends to the base member and being manually rollable upon itself so as to bring the opposite portions thereof into contact with one another as the elongated member is rolled upon itself from the unrolled extended condition in which the opposite ends thereof are spaced remote from one another to a rolled-up compact condition in which the opposite ends thereof are spaced adjacent to one another; (c) means for detachably attaching together the opposite portions of the elongated member when brought into contact with one another as the elongated member is rolled upon itself to the rolled-up compact condition such that upon release of the elongated member from the rolled-up compact condition the detachably attaching means permits the opposite portions of the elongated member to detach from one another and the elongated member to return to the unrolled extending condition as the detachably attaching means concurrently generate a drag effect on the detaching of the opposite portions of the elongated member from one another which limits the elongated member to undergoing a controlled progressive unrolling action that begins at the one end and ends at the opposite end of the elongated member as the elongated member returns to the unrolled extended condition; and (d) a latch member connected to the base member and detachably secured to the elongated member so as to restrain the elongated member in the rolled-up compact condition until the attachment member is pulled away and detached from the elongated member by a user such that the elongated member is released to undergo the controlled progressive unrolling action from the rolled-up compact condition to the unrolled extended condition.